


Information Seeking Behaviors

by glorious_clio



Category: The Thrilling Adventure Hour
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-06
Updated: 2014-05-06
Packaged: 2018-01-23 19:58:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,080
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1577627
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/glorious_clio/pseuds/glorious_clio
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>An overview of the life of Gratia: Librarian on Mars, and her interactions with her patrons.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Information Seeking Behaviors

The **Job Description** was a little misleading, but not too far off:

“A young woman who is not only a college graduate with library school training and experience ... must be able to get along with Martian settlers, ride and drive, as well as pack a horse, follow a trail, shoot straight, run an AI Horse, and be able to 'rough it' whenever necessary.”

Gratia knew that Mars hadn’t had a librarian, but her “library” was little more than a covered wagon, and her patrons had rarely read outside the canon of Rebecca Rose Rushmore books.    
...

**Community Outreach**

Her patrons weren’t all human settlers, most were native to Mars, and she was more or less welcome wherever she went. Some folks were _made of lava_. So she couldn’t lend them books. But there were weekly storytimes with them, and she was always happy to answer their questions.

The blue Martians were generally welcoming to her, though they did not often borrow materials. Then there was Flandolf the Dog-Earer who had his borrowing privileges revoked because he could not seem to break the habit of folding down the corners of every single page he turned.  

The overuse of crowd source information was prevalent. Several patrons asked about storks delivering babies, and there were whole tribes of native Martians that got their information about humans from soap operas.  They wouldn’t be far off, but soap operas tended to focus on the problems of rich white folks and didn’t reflect that diversity that earth had to offer.    
...

**Collection Development**

It wasn’t enough to have Earth materials.  Gratia had only brought human books, periodicals, and technology with her. But since her community was more diverse than she originally expected, most of her budget (such that it was) went to filling the gaps in her collection.  And cataloging Martian languages were a nightmare.  Not that they had that many print materials, “The Collected Scrolls of G'loot Praktaw” being the exception.

(Cross cataloged under “The Collected Scrolls of Mars”. Two in circulating, one in reference.)

She needed to have up-to-date information on farming and ranching and hypercattle. She needed to have games and books for kids.  She tried once to have a book club but didn’t have enough copies of 50 Shades of Blue and the Martians didn’t want to read anything else.    
...

 **A sample of Reference Questions**   
(patrons shall remain anonymous)

“I need ta know everything ya got about Jupiter babies and how long they’re dependent on saline solutions from secondary endocrine systems. Also, how do you kill a Jupe?”

“I would be under onus to you if you would research the human practices of reproduction. It appears they may be different from that of the denizens of G’loot Praktaw.”

“Do you have any books on fuzzy caterpillars? See, my lady friend said that the best way to face a fear was to learn about it, but I’m not sure she’s right, but I wanna at least try because she is my lady friend and all, but if your fuzzy caterpillar book could be as not scary as possible, I’d really appreciate it.”

“So, library lady, what are all your passwords and secrets? What book did that guy check out? What about that girl? And that kid? What’s his password?”  

“Yeah is there, uh, a difference between, uh, science... and technology? I mean... they’re pretty much one hundred percent the same, right?”

“Do you have a book about making someone your best friend? Not work friends. _Best_ friends.”

“I’m lookin’ for a book that don’t have no adventures, or problems, or trouble.  But fiction.”

“I’m about to start schoolin’ the Baby ******* and I was wonderin’ if you had anything on primary school education. The four basics: readin’, writin’, ‘rithmatic, and ranchin’.”

“Howdy, ma’am... do you have a source that can catch a fella up on 500 years of human history and advancement?”  
(so charming)  
...

**Professional Development and Mentorship:**

She wanted a Martian companion- Gratia noticed how Croach the Tracker assisted Marshal Nevada with general peacekeeping.  It wasn’t a fashion accessory; Croach’s tracking for the Marshal helped ease relations between the settlers and his tribe, and he was much more willing to help Gratia with a tricky translation than Barlok the Wise.  Every time Gratia asked if anyone was interested in being her Library Assistant (the pay was abysmal, but you never know), Barlok dismissed her by saying there was no one with that designation.  

She tried to argue that it wasn’t a designation, it was a job, but when she thought about her own calling to this dumb profession, her arguments weakened.  

She left a list of designations she would accept, _“shelver, cataloger, archivist, information specialist, reader, finder, alphabetizer, trivia enthusiast, post-it note remover, know it all, general helper_ ”.  Gratia checked back after every B’ar-mit zvah. Maybe someday she’d get lucky.    
...

**Duties as Assigned**

It was a good way to see Mars, and her horse, Alexandria, was cool in a crisis (that was probably due to its AI).  Gratia went all over, fearlessly bringing books and stuff to her human and non-human patrons. (The only place she hadn’t been yet was the Secreted City of Rococoo, but the Red Plains Rider had promised to show her one day.) Over hill and plain, into the mines, and small settlements, and Gratia knew every rancher and cow-poke by now.  Robot outlaws were threatened by her freedom of information, but that’s what her sidearm was for.  Space Bobcats occasionally stalked her, but lighting up flares usually sent them running again.  

The worst were the dust storms, which deteriorated both books and technology alike.  And it got everywhere.  

Once after a really terrible thunderstorm, all the shelves in her covered wagon had collapsed, and she had to hire Flindarf the Top Shelf Repairer, Jofene, the Second Shelf Repairer, and Tindune, the Bottom Shelf Repairer to fix them.

Every month, she made it a point to go back to town, pick up her mail and new orders, shower in a proper shower, and feel almost human again.  An evening at the Space Saloon helped too, catching up on the gossip in the town.  But she was always the Librarian, and no matter where she went, folks asked all kinds of questions, and everyone wanted her on their pub-trivia team, which made her feel well liked.  It was enough, she thought, as she refused to go to another Earth Librarian Conference. Gratia was needed here, and what’s more, she wanted to stay.    
...

 

**Author's Note:**

> The job description is a real one I found when reading about librarians in the American West- I changed “Westerners” to Martian settlers” and “automobile” to AI Horse. Otherwise it’s straight from “Cultural Crusaders: Women Librarians in the American West, 1900-1917” by Joanne Ellen Passet. I’ve been kicking this idea around in my head since I read that book. “Gratia” is named after one of my favorite librarians, Gratia Alta Countryman. 
> 
> Mad props to Annakie, Mansion, and tehgort on twitter for helping me with this. :)


End file.
